Monday reMinders :)

I hope that that your child is enjoying his/her day off from school!  I have just a few things that I wanted to remind you about:

• Spelling: Due to a variety of activities that we had planned for Friday, we did not get last week's spelling test completed.  The kiddos will have a chance to practice their words tomorrow & we will test on Wednesday.  Last week's words are: June, rude, shut, plus, flute, huge, tune, cute, cut & put. This week's spelling words will actually be for the next two weeks since we have 2 short weeks in a row.  Our next spelling list will have a combination of CVC & CVCe words.  These words are: CVC: which, lots, tall spend, club & CVCe: vote, rule, safe, wipe, space
• Parent/Teacher Conference: Please make sure to look over the yellow sheet of paper that has your child's Parent/Teacher Conference date/time on it.  Please return the bottom portion of this sheet with your child by Thursday to confirm our conference together.
• Online Reading: Columbia Public Schools provides a variety of online reading opportunities for the students.  MyOn & Follett Shelf are two of the online websites that are provided.  I hope that you and your child are remembering these as options for reading at home.  These subscriptions provide a wide-range of book choices for your child.  For the month of September, Avery was the top reader on MyOn for 2nd grade.  This means that she logged the most reading minutes of all the RBE 2nd graders!  Way to go, Avery!!!  The MyOn Super Reader sign (below) is outside the library & has her picture on it.  I wonder who will have logged the most minutes in October?  
  

Have a wonderful safe night!  Remember to email me a picture of your kiddo in his/her costume!

Happy Fall Harvest!

We had a great fall (even though it felt more like summer) day!

Our day started off with our Adjective Parade.  The parade was a complete success!!!  All of the kiddos did such an amazing job with their article of clothing.  We got SO many compliments today.  Thanks for helping make our first adjective parade a success!!! :)  Here are pictures as promised. and a link to Mrs. Ross's page. :)  After the parade we had a gallery walk to be able to see all of the different adjectives & then we wrote about what our favorite adjective was and why (opinion writing).  We will be turning these into a classroom book, with pictures of all the kiddos dressed up! :)

We then had Makers Space - we got to program robots & make mazes for Ozobots.  Super fun!!  Here are some pictures.

We also taste tested candy corn with Mrs. Reynolds and Ms. Ragsdale's classes.  We then made a bar graph about which candy corn was our favorite - the original won by a landslide!!!  We also practiced our adjective skills by describing the candy corn.  Look at all the fun we had!

A humongous thank you to all the parents that helped to put our party together by either donating items or helping out at the party!  I didn't get any pictures taken - sorry, but we went on a nature scavenger hunt and had lots of delicious fruits, vegetables, and a couple of sweets.  Lots of fun and yummies to go around.

Next week's learning:

• Reading: We will be working on asking questions.  It is important to ask questions before you start to read, while you are reading, and after you have read to help with comprehension.  Next week, we will be specifically talking about activating our schema by asking questions before we start to read.
• Science: This week we practiced researching about bats.  Next week, we will be researching about spiders. 
• Math: I cannot believe that first trimester is coming to an end!! We will be reviewing everything that we have covered so far this year, and taking our 1st trimester math assessment.
• Writing: We will be finishing publishing our personal narrative, and starting our second one.  This second personal narrative will be much more independent to see what the students are able to apply to their writing on their own.

Parent/Teacher Conference Dates/Times

Make sure that you check your child's Friday Folder for a yellow sheet that has a scheduled date/time for our Parent/Teacher Conference.  Please return the bottom portion of this sheet to let me know if this conference date/time will work for your family.  I want to meet with everyone so please let me know if you need something different!

Book Fair

The November Book Fair will be up & running during the week of Parent/Teacher conferences.  It will be set up in the Media Center.  Below are the hours of operation.  We will be visiting on Monday, November 7 and each kiddo will make his/her own "Wish List" in case you want to purchase a book for a special present or surprise.

Monday, Nov. 7: 7:20 am -6:00 pm

Tuesday, Nov 8: Closed

Wednesday, Nov. 9: 7:20 am -6:00 pm

Thursday: Nov. 10: 7:20 am -7:00 pm

Friday, Nov. 11: 8:00-11:00 am

Emily Arrow Literacy Night

Don't forget about our upcoming Literacy Night at Woodcrest on December 7th at 6pm with Emily Arrow!  This is for RBE students and families only.  Student can pre-order a Kazoo or album, which she will sign.  Orders are due by November 18th!  Emily will also be with us during the school day on December 9th. 

STEAM Bus Fundraiser: A Note From Craig Adams (CPS STEAM Coordinator)

Come out this Saturday to the Columbia Mall to support the STEAM Bus at Barnes and Noble bookstore!  While you’re there, check out some of the cool things that kids are making at our “Maker Faire” in the Target wing.  Students from all over CPS will be displaying some of the projects they are currently working on!  A percentage of that day's sales will be donated to help fund further STEAM Bus and Makerspace projects all around Columbia Public Schools.

United Way Total

I am so proud of all the 2nd graders.  They (and you) have been so incredibly generous and have donated $382.09 to the United Way.  Thank you for all of your wonderful support!

Junior Achievement

JA will continue next week.  This will be our fourth session out of five.  I am so proud of how much the kiddos are learning about economics!!

Have a wonderful safe 3 day weekend (no school on Monday).  Send me a picture of your child dressed up in his/her costumes - I would love to see them!

Happy Thursday!

I hope you have had a fabulous day.  I'm loving this weather!  It was gloomy this morning, but the the sun is out this afternoon!

United Way Fundraiser

WOW!!!!  2nd grade is ROCKIN' the United Way fundraiser.  As of today, second grade has raised $354.27.  Tomorrow is the last day to donate.  I wonder if we can reach $400.  This has tied directly into our math and counting money this week.  Each day, we have been counting the money raised for that day and adding it to our total.  The kids are excited about the possibility of earning an ice cream social, but we have also talked about the importance of raising money for a good cause.  I'm extremely proud of the students and thankful to all the families that have donated to our fundraiser!

Adjective Parade

The Adjective Parade is tomorrow!  I loved all the "items" brought in for the parade today.  It is going to be an awesome parade!  We made signs today for the students to wear as we parade around the school.  I will take pictures and post them tomorrow.  The students have worked so hard, this will be a great way to celebrate their hard work!

Veteran's Day Assembly

Mrs. Sharp and the students have been working very hard on the Veteran's Day assembly.  It will be on November 9.  There will be 2 assemblies, our class will be performing at the 9:30 assembly.  All students are encouraged to wear red, white and blue for the assembly.  

Fall Harvest Party

Our Fall Harvest Party is tomorrow at 1:45 p.m.   Thank you to everyone who has signed up to bring in items or help with the party.  The kids always love the parties!

Halloween Costumes

Students are not allowed to wear their Halloween costumes to school, but if your student does dress up for Halloween, I would love to see a picture.  I talked to the kids today and told them I would love to see pictures of them.  If you have printed copies, you can send them in or if you have electronic copies, you can email those to me.  I just love to see the kids all dressed up.  :)

Parent Teacher Conference Times

In Friday folders tomorrow will be conference times.  Please check to make sure the time works for you and return the bottom portion of the confirmation sheet.  If the time doesn't work, please indicate that and we can schedule a different time.  I am looking forward to meeting with everyone!

Have a fabulous evening!

Wonderful Wednesday!

It was a rainy day!  At both recesses the kiddos were outside playing & then the rain started.  It is not supposed to rain tomorrow - so hopefully we will get both full recesses!! :)  At the first recess time, it is only supposed to be 49 degrees - so make sure to send your child with a jacket tomorrow!!

Adjective Parade!!

Please remember to send your child in with his/her adjective article of clothing tomorrow (Thursday, October 27)..  I really appreciate your support in this fun learning celebration.  Mrs. Ross sent an email to the school to let them know that our Adjective Parade will be happening & everyone is SUPER excited!! :)

Math Wizard Board!!

As promised I have gotten up our Math Wizard bulletin board!  Look at all the Addition Math Wizards!  The next time you are in our hallway take a look at our Math Wizards.  Keep practicing those facts!! :)

Have a wonderful evening!

Monday reMinders :)

We had a great Monday!

In math, we talked about how you can use repeated addition to solve an array.  

This array has 3 rows of 6.  The repeated addition sentence for this array would be 6 + 6 + 6 = 18.  We also, continued to practice counting coins.  

The homework this week has the kiddos practicing writing the skip counting for 2 different amounts of change, and identifying the rows and columns of an array.  We have talked about "Rows go side-to-side" and "Columns go up-and-down."  

In reading, 

• The students started a Story Element Haunted House for the book The Ugly Pumpkin.  The students are working on identifying the characters, setting, problem, solution and major events in the story.  
• The kiddos were also costume designers and had to draw a costume of what I should be for Halloween.  Then they were using all their knowledge of adjectives and describing their costume.
• We also learned about short and long u words for our spelling this week.  We also discovered that put is an oddball word (word that doesn't fit the vowel pattern).  Our words this week are cut, plus, shut (short u), June (J MUST be capitalized to get full credit), rude, flute, huge, tune, cute (long u) and our oddball word of put.
• The kiddos are also completing research on bats.  We watched a short video on bats (we found out LOTS of information) and then they read about bats.  They practiced taking notes on what they learned.

In writing, we worked on editing our small moment story by making sure that all of our sentences start with capital letters and end with punctuation.  We then had a partner read through our writing to make sure that each piece of writing had correct capitalization and punctuation.

Coming home with your child today is his/her school pictures.  Picture retake day is on Wednesday (October 28).  If you would like for your child to retake his/her picture & you ordered pictures you MUST send back in the pictures.  If you would like for your child to retake his/her pictures and you did not order pictures the first time you MUST send in an order form & money.  

As a reminder, our Fall Harvest Party is this Friday, October 28, at 1:45.  If you have not had a chance to look at the Sign-Up Genius for our party - please do so (we are still needing some fruit to complete our special treats for our party).

Please remember to be sending your child with a HEALTHY snack to school every day.  According to the article, "What Are the Benefits of Children Eating Snacks During School," children need to be able to refuel throughout the day.  The refueling helps to maintain focus and their energy.  Healthy snacks boost energy but sugary/junk food are not helpful.  Providing a healthy snack option for your child begins to build a foundation of making good food choices.

Some great healthy snack choices are: fruits, vegetables, crackers, cheese, popcorn, etc..  Please do NOT send in candy for your child's snack because the candy does not help your child to refuel.  Also, please remember that we are a peanut free classroom.  We are running a little short on extra snacks in case someone forgot their snack - so if you are at the grocery store and can pick up a box of crackers, or another option, I would appreciate it!

Have a wonderful evening!  The weather this afternoon is absolutely BEAUTIFUL - so I hope you have a chance to get out enjoy it tonight!! :) 

Fantastic Friday! :)

We had a fantastic Friday! :)  All the kiddos looked so SUPER cute in their western wear!!!

This morning we had Lexi's mom come in and read to us!  

She read us 3 really fun books!!  2 of the books were in a sequel of...

  and 

the kiddos LOVED these books!  She even brought mustaches in for us to have! :)

United Way Penny War
I am SO proud of our class and their wanting to help out the United Way.  With Mrs. Ross's class the kiddos have donated $142.25!!!!  WOW!!!  That is absolutely amazing!! :)  At this point, 2nd grade is in first place among all the other grade levels.  Our Penny War has been extended until next Friday.  So keep sending in your coins - it really does add up!!

Today in math we worked on counting all the money that was brought in today.  We talked about the importance of sorting all the coins so that we can count them easier.  We practiced skip counting by 5's when we counted the nickels and skip counting by 10's when we counted the dimes.  We also talked about making stacks of 4 quarters because 4 quarters equals $1 and stacking the pennies into stacks of 10.  Below are some pictures of our quarters and pennies.  We formed the stacks into an array so that we could easily skip count to figure out how much money we had!

Junior Achievement
Mr. McGowen was back again to teach Junior Achievement this afternoon.  Today we learned about why a community needs to have lots of different businesses.  The kiddos are bringing home a map of our  Junior Achievement community.  They enjoyed putting the stickers on! :)

We learned about why we have to pay taxes: pay salaries to government workers (police, firefighters, teachers, librarians etc.) and keep up roads, bridges and public building.  Today the kiddos got "paid" for their work from last week of making donuts.  They were paid $5...which made them happy!

However, we had some not-so-happy-campers when they had to pay their taxes of $2.  Your kiddo is coming home with their money today.

Picture Retakes
Picture Retake day is Wednesday (October 26). If you ordered school pictures these will be coming home next week.

Next Friday!
October 28 is going to be a fun-filled day!

• Adjective Parade: Please continue to think about what adjective your child will be on Friday.  Remember that you are to decorate one clothing items to show what your child's adjective is.  We will be parading around the school right after morning announcements.  Please fill out the adjective form that came home yesterday, so that I know what adjectives we will have.  Also, please send in your child's adjective article of clothing on Thursday, October 27.  We will be making adjective signs to wear.  If you are having trouble with this activity PLEASE let me know - I want everyone to be able to participate, so I will help ANY way that I can!
• Fall Harvest Party: We do NOT dress up in Halloween costumes for our party.  If you have not already had a chance to look at our classrooms Fall Harvest Party Sign-Up please do so.  There are a few slots that still need to be filled up: fruit for treats & a couple of more adults to help with making the party a success!  Thank you in advance for your help with this - parties are always something that the kiddos remember.

Parent/Teacher Conference Request Forms
WOW!  Thank you so much for the great turnout of returning your child's Parent/Teacher Conference Request form from yesterday!  I had wrote Friday Folder comments last night so please ignore my comment about returning the forms if you returned them today.  If you haven't had a chance to fill out the form, please do so and return by Wednesday.  I will send home a scheduled date/time for your child's conference in Friday Folders next week.

No School
Monday, October 31, is a Teacher Work Day to complete progress reports and get ready for conferences, so the kiddos do not come to school.  I hope that you have a chance to enjoy Trunk-or-Treats on Sunday, and get an early start on trick-or-treating on Monday, so that the kiddos are ready for learning on Tuesday! :)

Fall Weather is Here!!
Please make sure that you child is coming to school in appropriate clothing/jacket/coats for the weather.  Our 2nd grade expectations for what to wear outside is below.  This morning when we went to recess it was 44 degrees but the wind chill was 39 - that is really chilly (especially on our playground)!!!

Homework
Please make sure that your child is using pencil when completing the 2 sections of math.  This will be an expectation throughout your child's math education.  It is easy to make a mistake in math & using a pencil allows for easy erasing.  Thank you for helping your child with this.  If you need a pencil at your house for homework please let me know & I can give your child one to be kept in his/her Homework Folder.

A Note From Mrs. Sharp:

Dear Parents,

       Each day in music, classes can earn one beat of rhythm for their positive behavior. When 8 beats are completed, the class earns a celebration. I’m happy to report that Ms. Mottaz’s class has completed their song!

     On Monday, October 24^th, the students may bring an individual snack and a stuffed animal that fits in their backpack, to music. We will have a short extra recess at the beginning of music. Then we will watch a video and enjoy their snacks. Please allow them to bring a snack and small stuffed animal to school on Monday, the 24th. Thank you! Mrs. Sharp

Next Week's Learning

• Math: We will be continuing to work with counting coins and arrays.  Next week we will be starting to draw arrays and also learning how to figure out how many objects are in an array by       using repeated addition.
• Reading: We will be looking at story elements: characters, setting, problem/solution, and the main events of the story.  We have a fun project that we will be doing with this next week.
• Spelling Words: Next week our spelling words are short and long u.  Short u words: plus, shut, cut Long u words: June, rude, tune, flute, huge, cute and we have an oddball word this week (a word that doesn't fit our pattern): put.
• Science: We will completing bat research during Reading Stations and be turning our research into a project at the end of the week.
• Writing: We are going to be working on editing our small moment story on Monday - CUPS and then on Tuesday we will be working on revising our writing - ARMS.

Have a wonderful weekend.  Stay warm at Homecoming House Decoration tonight and the parade tomorrow if you are going! :)

Thursday's Thoughts

I cannot believe that the end of October is right around the corner!!!  Fall weather is definitely here!  Please make sure that you are sending your kiddo with a jacket to school - the playground can be really chilly in the morning.

Your child is bringing home a few items today in his/her homework folder:

• Adjective Parade Sheet: Our 2nd Grade Adjective Parade will be next Friday, October 28.  We will actually be parading around the school so all the grade levels can see our amazing, fun, excellent adjectives!  Please help your child think about an adjective that could be shown off by decorating one article of clothing. Please return the bottom portion of the sheet so I know what adjectives will be in our parade!

•  Parent Teacher Conference Request Form:  Parent teacher conference is our right around the corner! Please look over my availability for conferences on the form that came home today. Select your first and second choice for the day and time that you prefer to meet with me.  Return this form with your child by next Wednesday.  I will do my best to schedule everyone's conference for their first choice. Be looking for your scheduled time coming home and Friday Folders next week.  I am looking forward to meeting with everyone in November! 

Fall Harvest Party

Next Friday, October 28, will be our Fall Harvest Party at 1:45.  A few of the moms have a fun party planned but need some assistance with supplying treats, paper products, and for some adults to help with the party/cleanup.  Please take the time to look at the Fall Harvest Party Sign-Up Genius to see what is needed.

Western Day
Tomorrow will be Western Day.  Bring out your cowboy boots, hats and plaid!  I can't wait to see all the Western Wear tomorrow!

As always, please let me know if you have any questions.  Have a wonderful evening!

Terrific Tuesday!

We had a terrific Tuesday!

Writing

We have finished up the rough draft of our small moment stories!  Today we talked about the different types of endings (example: end with a hope or dream, end with advice, circle back to the lead, etc.).  The kiddos tried out 3 different endings for their story.  They then chose the BEST ending to wrap up their small moment story.  Next, we will be working on revising and editing our stories to make them the BEST that they can be!

Math

We have finished up our skip counting books and have practiced counting same coins.  Tomorrow we will be starting to work on counting coins that may not all be alike.  We will also be learning about arrays.  An array is a picture of rows and columns.  There needs to be the same number in each row and the same number in each column.  Below is an example of an array (4 rows of 3).  

Reading

• Reading Skill: Last week, we worked on a summary by using the strategy Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then.  This week we are learning that when you retell a story that you give more details.  We are using transition words of First, Next, Then, After that, and Finally to organize our retell.
• Grammar: Last week, we focused on adjectives (a word that describes a noun).  This week we are learning about verbs (action words).  The kiddos are really understanding the different parts of speech!!!  As a reminder, next Friday (October 28), we will be having our adjective parade.  Please be helping your kiddo choose an adjective and decorate one item of clothing to represent the adjective.
• Word Study:  As a reminder, our words this week are focusing on short & long o.  Short o words: clock, rock, spot, chop, job & Long o words: hope, joke, stove, those and broke.  We will be testing on Friday. :)  Please reinforce these vowel patterns as your child is writing - even if the words have not been tested over (example: drove is a word that should be able to be spelled correctly because it fits the pattern we have learned).

As a reminder, we have early dismissal tomorrow, October 19.  We will be dismissing from school at 12:10.  Please let me know if your child will be going home a different way than normal. :)

Remember to send in your change to support the United Way!!  Each grade level is competing to see who can donate the MOST money for the United Way, and the grade level who does receives an ice cream party!  If you want to learn more about what the United Way does you can checkout their website!

Have a wonderful evening & I hope that you are having a chance to enjoy this beautiful weather!

Happy Beautiful Monday! :)

Happy Monday!

I hope you are getting a chance to enjoy this beautiful weather we are having today!  I'm not ready for fall, so I'm really enjoying these last few days of warm weather!  The kids were happy to go outside without jackets for both recesses today!  

I have a few things to pass along today.  :)

Grade Level Pictures
If you weren't able to make it to the BBQ and would like to order the 2nd grade picture (or any grade level picture), please send in $5 per print with your student tomorrow and I will add them to the list.  Please make sure you send in the money as only prepaid orders will be printed.  

United Way

This week we are raising money for United Way by collecting change.  The campaign is call "It Makes Cents To Give to United Way."  If you have any spare change that you would like to donate, we would greatly appreciate it.  A friendly competition has been set up between grade levels and the grade level that collects the most change (money) will receive an ice cream social.  We are only collecting through this Friday.  Any donations are greatly appreciated!

Spelling Words
We are working on short o and long o vowel words this week.  This week's spelling words are: 

• short o (CVC): clock, rock, spot, chop, job
• long o (CVCe): hope, joke, stove, broke, those

Spirit Day

Our next spirit day is this Friday.  It is "Western Day."  If your student would like to participate, they can wear plaid, boots, cowboy hats anything "Western."  It's always fun to see the kids showing their school spirit!

Early Release

As a reminder, we have early release on Wednesday.  We will dismiss at 12:10.  If your student is going home a different way than normal, please let the office and myself know in the morning on Wednesday. 

Emily Arrow

In your student's Friday folder was information about a family literacy event for RBE families on December 7.  Emily Arrow will be performing at the literacy event.  It will be at 6:00 p.m. on December 7 at Woodcrest Church.  Due to space limitations, this event is for RBE families only.  Emily Arrow will still be coming to RBE on December 9.  On the sheet that came home was also an order form if you would like to order an autographed copy of her CD.  These are due back by November 18.  

Today we read Strickly No Elephants by Lisa Mantchev and listened to Emily Arrow's song.  Her newest song is Hannah & Sugar, which we also watched today.  The kids are really enjoying all the Emily Arrow songs!

Chicken BBQ

WOW!!!!  Thank you to everyone who came to the BBQ or volunteered, donated items.  It was a HUGE success!  I worked the drive thru from 4-6 and we were busy the entire time.  We don't have final numbers on the ticket sales.  At this point, Teacher Town raised $1,625 and the Silent Auction raised $14,679...that is amazing!!  We have such wonderful families who support our PTA and our school.  Thank you!  Thank you!  Thank you!

Have a wonderful day!

Happy Friday

Happy Friday!

I hope you have all had a wonderful week.  The students have worked very hard this week and we are all very excited about the BBQ.  :)  There is a lot of information in this post, so please take the time to read it!

Chicken BBQ is TOMORROW!

Here is the auction list.  It came home yesterday, but now you have an electronic copy also.  :)  The auction is over at 6:30 p.m.  As a reminder, we have a class picture and a pizza party in the Teacher Town section of the BBQ.  Also, the Day on the STEAM Bus will be up for auction also.  This is going to be a fabulous opportunity for whichever class has the winning student in it.  :)

The Chicken BBQ is tomorrow!  The RBE PTA has put in a lot of work for a fabulous BBQ tomorrow.  I will be working the Drive Thru from 3:30-6:00and then will be walking around to the games afterwards.  I look forward to seeing everyone there!

Next Week's Learning

Math

Next week, we will be working on counting coins.  We had planned to get to that this week, but they were working so hard on their T-Shirt factory posters (presented yesterday), that we pushed it back to next week.  We will also start working on arrays.  These are ways to group numbers.  It will be a very basic introduction into multiplication, but knowing that connection between repeated addition, grouping and multiplication will be very helpful to them in 3rd grade.

Please continue practicing math facts at home.  We have some kids that are very close to becoming Math Wizards!

Writing

The students created a bird this week and wrote a description.  We decided to do this because we weren't able to go to Bird Day as planned.  They created some very fun birds and did a nice job describing them as well.  Next week, we will be writing our middles and endings of our personal narrative.  The goal is by the end of next week to be reading to edit.  We have a fun acronym for editing and revising.  It is CUPS and ARMS.  We have very briefly introduced this to the kids and will go more in depth once we are ready to edit and review our stories.

Reading

The students did a fabulous job with summaries this week using the strategy of Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then.  Next week, we will learn about retells and the differences between summaries and retells.  The main difference is in a retell, you give a lot more details than in a summary.

Social Studies

Today, the students enjoyed 3 books about presidents, Grace for President, Duck for President and So You Want to Be President.  Then they wrote about what they think they would be a good president.  Next week, we will be revisiting what they would do as president and discuss the importance of it being what is best for the entire country.

Spelling Words

We will continue to work on CVC and CVCe words next week.  We will be focusing on long and short o words next week.

Long o words: joke, stove, broke, hope, those

Short o words: clock, chop, rock, job, spot

Adjective Parade

Please be thinking about what adjective your student would like to represent for our Adjective Parade on October 28. They can create one article of clothing (hat, shirt, etc) to represent their adjective.  Their article of clothing should be created at home.  If you need assistance getting it created, please let me know.  It should be a fun day to show everything they have learned about adjectives!

Looking forward to seeing everyone at the BBQ tomorrow!

Have a great weekend!

Happy Wednesday! :)

Math Posters

The students finished up "working for" the T-Shirt factory by creating a poster to show how they added up the total number of t-shirts.  We had a discussion that they haven't learned how to stack and regroup when adding, so they had to use another strategy.  Some groups used place value blocks, while other groups grouped the hundreds, tens and ones and then added.  The pictures below show them presenting their posters.  

Adjectives

We have been working on adjectives last week and this week.  The students have learned that adjectives describe a noun.  The students identified adjectives of items in the classroom and then created a Word Cloud (http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm) with all the adjectives that describe the items.  In a Word Cloud, words that are used more often appear larger.  We then created a large poster with the Word Clouds and pictures of the items.  The poster is hanging in the hallway so if you're in the building, check it out!

Summaries

We have continued to work on summaries this week using the strategy of Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then.  After your student reads at night, I encourage you to have them summarize what they read.  They may not have all parts depending on how long they read, but they should be able to identify what their character wanted and a problem the character had in the book.  Today, they wrote a summary independently about Three Hens and a Peacock which is a very funny book.  :)  It was interesting to read the different summaries because some students wrote about the Peacock and others wrote about the three hens. 

Picnic Lunch

Even though we were not able to go on our field trip today, our Picnic Lunch was a success!!!

The Weather is Changing!!

Today there was a shift in temperature throughout the day.  Please make sure that your child is coming to school with appropriate outerwear.  If the windchill is under 60 degrees your child will need a sweatshirt or a jacket.

Emily Arrow

We are so excited that Emily Arrow will be coming to RBE in December!!  We will have an assembly with her on December 9th.  On Wednesday, December 7th at 6:00 we will be having a RBE Literacy Family event at Woodcrest Church.  Due to seating capacity, this event is for RBE Families only.  As I receive more details I will send them out.  To get to know some of Emily Arrow's music checkout her website!

Chicken BBQ

The Chicken BBQ is coming up this Saturday!!  If you still need to order BBQ tickets please send in your child's BBQ baggie back with money ($9.00- adult meal; $7.00 - youth meal; $5.00 - child meal)

Teacher Town at the BBQ

There will be LOTS of really neat stuff at Teacher Town (Silent Auction at the BBQ).  You can purchase:

• Our class picture with everyone's signature
• Mrs. Ross & our class picture with everyone's
• Pizza Lunch Party for your child & 2 friends
• STEAM Bus: Craig Adams has graciously donated a Day on the STEAM Bus for the auction at the RBE Chicken BBQ.  The winning student’s entire class will get to spend a day on the STEAM Bus doing fun activities.  If parents in your student’s class would like to pool their money together so they have more to bid, this is completely fine. Here is the website for the STEAM Bus if you would like to learn more about it.  http://www.cpsk12.org/steambus
• Grade Level Picture: If you would like to order a grade level picture and aren’t able to come to the BBQ or weren’t able to get your name added to the list at the Chicken BBQ, please have your child bring $5 (per print) to Mrs. Ross’ classroom by Tuesday, October 18 and you will be added to the order.  The order will be placed Tuesday afternoon, so we can’t accept any late orders.  Prints will be sent home in Friday folders once they have been printed.  This is a great memento to add to your student’s memory box.  Thank you for your support!

Happy Friday!

We have had an amazing week!!

Learning About Birds
This week we have been completing research about birds and their adaptations (ways that birds are special to help them survive).  We have practiced reading nonfiction books and taking notes.  Today the kiddos participated in an science experiment where they pretended to be birds and have to use different "beaks" (tweezers, tongs, slotted spoons, and straws) to pick up different "foods" (water, grass in water, rocks in water, sunflower seeds, rice in an egg carton).  We also watched a movie about birds and all their adaptations.

Bird Day Field Trip

All of our learning is to help us prepare for our Bird Day Field Trip on Wednesday, October 12.  For the field trip:

• Please send your child to school is comfortable clothes that will be appropriate for the weather.  At this point, the forecast for Wednesday is 66 degrees and rainy. We are hoping that there is no rain. :)  However, we will arrive at Audubon Park around mid-morning and it will only be 56 degrees. A jacket will probably be a good idea and shoes that allow for easy & comfortable walking.
• Please remember to send your child with a lunch (unless you marked on the slip for a sack school lunch).  The lunch and all containers need to be able to be thrown away.  Please mark your child's Ziploc bag clearly with his/her name.  We will not have coolers for this field trip - so please take that into account when planning your child's lunch.

Nouns & Adjectives

We introduced grammar to the kiddos yesterday by talking about nouns and adjectives.  Today the kiddos chose a noun to share with the class.  Then we had the kiddos complete a noun gallery walk to look at all the nouns.  As they were doing their gallery walk the kiddos wrote down adjectives to describe the nouns.  After they were finished we turned all their adjectives into a word cloud.  Next week, we will be continuing talk about nouns and adjectives at one of our Literacy Stations.

To help bring adjectives to life, we will be having an Adjective Parade at the end of the month.  On October 28 your child can dress up as an adjective.  This is NOT a Halloween costume.  Your child is able to decorate one piece of clothing (hat,  shirt, pants, shoes, dress, etc) as an adjective.  

Costume Rules:

• No masks
• No make-up
• Must be school appropriate
• Student will wear their word during the day

Information came home with your child today in his/her Friday Folder.  Here is a copy of the letter.  Below are some examples! :)

     

Books We Have Read This Year

On Mrs. Ross's blog she has made a tab of all the books that we have read so far this year.  If you would like to check it you can go here!  The kiddos are really into historical fiction books.  If your family has a great book that fits into this category that you wouldn't mind sharing with us that would be great!  We have started to make a Historical Fiction Timeline of all the great books we have read.

Also, I have gotten out my Halloween books and they have been a hit!!!  I love to see how excited the kiddos get about reading!! :)

Junior Achievement

Junior Achievement (JA) is a program where community members come into the classroom to teach 5 lessons on economics.  If you want to learn more you can check out their website!  Mr. McGowin is our JA teachers.  Today was our first day!!  We talked about different jobs that our in community.  We also talked about the difference between a want and a need.  Mr. McGowin has 4 more lessons that he will be teaching us.  Next week the kiddos will be bakers! :)

Next Week:

We have LOTS going on next week!! :)

• Math: We will be continuing to work on skip counting and counting coins
• Reading: We will be working on summarizing books that we have read.  To help kiddos summarize we use a strategy called Somebody, Wanted, But, So, Then.  Using this strategies helps the kiddos to include the important information but not TOO many details.

• Grammar: We will be continuing to work on identifying nouns and using a variety of adjectives to describe them.
• Word Study: Our words next week will be continuing to look at the pattern CVC & CVCe but next week our words will be looking at short and long i.
• Short i Words: stick, gift, thin, swim, rich
• Long i Words: five, life, nine, drive, prize
• Writing: Yay!!! We finished up the beginnings to our small moment story.  We have also identified the 3 BIG events that will happen in our story.  These events will be our middle.  Next week, we will be talking about the importance of adding details to these events as we write the middle to our small moment story.
• Social Studies: We will be continuing our government conversation, by looking at how presidents and other government officials are chosen.  We will be reading two books (Gloria for President and Duck for President) and comparing these books.

Recess Attire

It was definitely CHILLY outside this morning!!  Please remember to send your child in appropriate recess attire for weather.  I know that in Missouri one day it will be hot & the next day it can be cold, so please be checking the weather forecast each day!  With it being fall, it would probably be a good idea for you to send a jacket with your child everyday.  As a reminder, here are what our requirements are for how your child needs to be dressed to go out to recess.

Chicken BBQ

The Chicken BBQ is next weekend!!!  A flyer came home with a sneak peak of some of the items for the Silent Auction.  Please remember to send in your child's baggie to buy BBQ tickets.  A drawing is held every day for kiddos who buy tickets to earn free game tickets.  On Thursday, Vivian was the winner of some game tickets!! 

Have a wonderful weekend!! :)